Realm Travelers
by ninj0queen
Summary: All Carrie wants is to relax on her Saturday morning. But no. Her mom just HAS to make her go to Aunt Miriam's creepy house to clean. Luckily, her cousin Eric is there. But then weird things begin to happen, and they find themselves in a world they only knew from tv. Ok, guys. this was originally just going to be it, but it was so much fun I decided to continue, so i'll post later.
1. Strange Beginnings

Saturday. Usually my friends and I go and hang out at the mall, maybe catch a movie, grab some lunch, just regular teenage girl stuff. When my mom told me I had to help my cousin Eric clean out my Great-Aunt Miriam's attic, I nearly blew it. Cleaned probably once since she bought the house, organizing her attic is a task worthy of Hercules' twelve labors. Begging did nothing to help my case. Around 9:30, my mom, who seemed much too cheerful as she sent me off to "prison", woke me up so she could drop me off at Great-Aunt Miriam's home. Because she had errands to run, my mom just dropped me off out front and left.

I looked up at the monstrous mansion, took a deep breath, and banged on the front door. "Aunt Miriam!," I called. My heart was thumping.I hated her house, it terrified me. When I was younger, I always got lost in all the corridors and hallways. When I was nine, I got lost. I remember that I couldn't find my way out. I sat there for a while, and thinking I would never see my family agin, I started to cry. Huge, rolling wet tears. Soon, my twelve year old cousin, Eric, found me. He picked me up and carried me back to my mom and dad. The whole ordeal was terrifying, so After that, I always made up some sort of excuse not to come over. But now, at sixteen, I was back at Great-Aunt Miriam's maze house. The only reason I hadn't put up to much of a fuss was because Eric was coming. I hadn't seen him for awhile. I really missed him. He was like an older brother to me.

I banged on the door again. "Aunt Miriam!," I bellowed through the door. It opened, revealing... Eric.

Standing in the doorway in jeans and a plain red t-shirt, mt favorite cousin never looked happier to see me. "Carrie!" He grabbed me up into a bear hug and swung my tiny frame around in a circle.

"Eric!," I laughed.

He set me down and looked me over. " Carrie, you've gotten so big! I haven't seen you in so long!" He smiled so broadly I thought his face would tear.

"I'm not the only one whose grown up." And it was true. Last time I saw my cousin, he was just this scrawny little fourteen year old. Now he was this huge, muscular, eighteen year old. He had grown out his shiny black hair and now it flopped down into his sea-green eyes.

" Eric!," a high-pitched voice screeched from inside. "Whose that!"

Eric winced. "Its Carrie, Aunt Miriam!" He turned to me. "Lets go start working on the attic."

The attic was a disaster zone. There were several old chests and boxes lying around everywhere with there contents spilled out. There was broken glass all over the floor and dust bunnies the size of my head. Overall, it looked like no one had been up here for eighty years or so. We got started on cleaning. After a couple hours of work, I found a small box. It looked like a ring box. I opened it and gasped.

Inside was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. It had a rose gold band and several sparkling fluorescent diamonds that seemed to change color as I stared at it. At first I thought it was red, then green, and now blue. I put it on.

"Eric, what do you think? Who knows how much this is worth?" I turned my hand over, admiring how it looked on my small hand.

Suddenly, a wind started to blow, picking up the dust bunnies into a dusty tornado. "Eric? Whats happening?" Eric climbed over aunt Miriam's junk and held me close.

"What's going on?." Although he was yelling, I could barely hear him. I tried to reply, but as soon as I opened my mouth, I started gagging on dust. I had a crazy thought. I looked down at the beautiful ring, that now looked purple, and tried to pull it off. It was stuck in place. Eric and I were swept up into the air. An invisible force shoved us through the window and straight up into the air. On the way up, I lost my sweatshirt. My auburn hair was torn out of its braid and started whipping around in my face. I couldn't see Eric because of my newfound "hair issue", but I could feel his arms tight around my waist, keeping us from flying apart. We shot up past the clouds and atmosphere.

Suddenly, everything went black.

I woke up a few hours later on a pile of trash. Eric was next to me. He had a jagged cut across his scalp.

"Oh my gosh, Eric! Please be okay," I gently lifted his head and parted his jet black hair. The cut wasn't as bad as I thought, more blood than actual wound. I sighed in relief, and then everything that happened came back to me. I jumped up. Looking up, I saw thousands of buildings towering up around me. It looked almost like New York City. I looked around and realized we were on a platform over open space. Several people were walking past us. I ran up to one woman and tapped on her shoulder.

" Excuse me, but where am I?" I asked politely.

She turned, nearly stopping my heart. The "woman" had blue skin and two long green tentacles instead of hair. She had black eyes that, when she blinked, closed from the sides. I did the only thing that seemed sensible at the moment.

I screamed. I was so loud, I attracted the attention of everyone on the street. I screamed so long that I ran out of breath so I promptly fainted.

This time, I woke up in what I guessed was a hospital. I sat up and looked around. There was a desk with paperwork on it, a glass of water, and a plate of food. The door opened. I sighed in relief, seeing that the person was human. The girl that walked in looked about twenty or so. She had on a flowing brown robe and her reddish hair was cropped into a pixie cut.

" Hi there. I see your up now. I'm Zahara Den. Whats your name?" She smiled as if this was all perfectly normal.

" Where is Eric?' I growled. The woman didn't even blink.

" You mean the young man you were with? He's fine. We're taking care of him." She smiled as if everything was all right. " Now I need your name and what sector your from so we can get you back to your family."

Hold on. Sector? When I was twelve, Eric insisted I see this old movie series with him. It was all about these people with super powers and laser swords. Everyone was fighting against an Empire. "Wait, what is this place called? Whose the authority?" Please be wrong, I prayed. Please be wrong...

"You're on Coruscant. As for authority, Chancellor Palpatine's in charge." Zahara looked at me with concern. "Are you all right? You look like your going to be sick."

I looked at the open door. I counted to three then bolted. I ran around, opening doors, looking for Eric. I could hear yelling behind me. I opened the last door in the hall and sighed in relief. This was Eric's room. He was yelling at someone.

"-you're lying!" He was shouting at the young man next to him. Suddenly, Eric saw me. "Carrie!" I ran to him and he pushed me behind him, blocking me from the man he was speaking too. Zahara ran in.

"Skywalker. Sorry to intrude." She gave a little bow to the young man.

" Its fine, Zahara, " He turned, his sharp blue eyes looking critically into my own. " I'll finish up here, you can go." Zahara gave me the stink eye and left. "Now, where were we?"

"Get out!" I couldn't control myself. " Leave us alone! None of this is real. This whole thing is some sort of nightmare! This is just a trick! Who are you?!"

" Anakin Skywalker" The man pushed his golden hair away from his eyes. " Now tell me who you are."

My jaw dropped. I turned to Eric. " Your the expert. Please tell me this is a nightmare. There is no way we are on Coruscant. No. Way." I pointed at "Anakin." " And there is no way that is Anakin Skywalker!" My voice was getting shrill. " Eric. What is going on!"

My cousin grabbed my shoulders and shook me slightly. "Carrie. Get a hold of yourself. I think he is telling the truth. Remember how weird everything was?"

"You're right." I suddenly remembered everything that happened in the movies. I turned to Anakin. " This is going to sound crazy. But we are from the future and this guy named George Lucas knows everything that happened to you. People wrote books and made movies about your family. Please listen. I need to see the Jedi council."

Sure. I'm supposed to report weird activity there anyway, and I'm pretty sure this qualifies." Anakin says.

An hour later, Eric and I are standing in front of the Jedi council while Anakin explains what happened. My jaw dropped when I first came in. Oh my gosh. Thats Yoda! And Obi-Wan! And Mace Windu! Anakin finished, and now its Eric and I. Eric explains what happened to us, how we were cleaning out our Great-Aunt's attic and I found the ring. Finally, it s my turn.

"This is going to sound absolutely crazy, but I know for certain who the Sith lord is." I began.

"What? "

"Who"

"That's impossible!"

"Be quiet!" I screamed, immediately regretting it. All the Masters looked at me in shock. ' Um, sorry. I need to continue." I took a deep breath. " Tell me whats happening. Did Anakin and Obi-Wan rescue Palpatine from General Grievous yet?"

"Yes" Obi Wan stroked his beard thoughtfully. "We did."

"Anakin," I said turning to him. " Did you have a nightmare about someone dear to you dying?" A senator, perhaps?"

Anakin froze. " How did you know about that?" he almost whispered.

I looked at him sympathetically. "I know more about you but than anyone else. I know about the Tusken raiders. I know about Naboo. I know about Padme." As he stared in shock at my words, I turned to Eric. " Do you still have your phone?"

Half an hour later, We were all watching the story of Anakin's life. Anakin and Eric had managed to set up a holographic movie theater. Eric had the entire Star Wars series on his phone, so it was easy for them to upload it to a holocube projector. I watched the Masters reactions to the different events.

Obi-Wan groaned when Anakin flirted with Padme. Windu sighed when Anakin killed Count Dooku. Yoda looked down when Anakin sliced off Mace Windu's hand, helping Palpatine defeat him. Tears filled Anakin's handsome face as he saw himself turn to the dark side. Despair flooded his face as he killed younglings, choked Padme, and tried to murder Obi-Wan. When we got to Padme's death and the birth of Darth Vader, he stood up.

"I think we have seen enough," Anakin said stiffly. Another tear slid down his cheek as he stood up and left.

Yoda sighed. " Painful, this is to Skywalker. Harsh is the truth of his actions."

"Palpatine will be brought to justice. But first, we must show this to the Senate." Master Windu said darkly. "He will stand trial against a new, stronger chancellor. And he will not escape."

I sighed in relief. " Thats great, but I really need to get back with Eric. We need to go home."

"Hmm. Right, you are. Home you must go." Yoda pronounced.

Windu looked at my hand. "Where did you get that ring? He asked.

I looked at the ring. " I found it in my Great-Aunt's attic. When I put it on, it transported us here."

"That gem is a glitterstim gem. It attracts the Force into a tight bubble around the wearer. It can do different things depending on how much. And that is a lot of glitterstim." Mace Windu said. "Since you helped us find the Sith lord, you can have it. So you can travel in between realms. It should be able to get you home. Just whisper your desired destination into it, and it will begin to work its magic."

I grabbed Eric's hand, and he held me close. "It was great meeting you all," I called to everyone.

"Yeah, it was. Believe me. We will be back to visit." Eric said.

"Home," I whispered into the glitterstim ring. The wind started to blow, and Eric and I were lifted off the ground and thrown into the sky. For the second time that day, everything went black.

I woke up this time on a pile of old drapes and broken glass. "Ow," I muttered as I sat up.

"Carrie, I just had the weirdest dream ever," Eric said, sitting up too. "We were on Coruscant and-" He looked at me, then down at my new ring. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"

"No, it wasn't. And I have a feeling we will be using this thing a lot," I said pointing at the ring.

"Eric!," a shrill voice screeched from downstairs.

We looked at each other and started laughing. "Eric!," I mimicked, making both of us laugh even harder.

"Coming Aunt Miriam!" my cousin finally yelled back. We ran downstairs still giggling, to help our Great-Aunt.

Our adventures were only beginning.


	2. Somewhere in Colorado

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. Obviously, I was awake though. I kept an eye on my clock, which seemed to go slower than ever, while I worked on wrapping presents. Finishing the last one, I leaned back on my pillow and sighed. About ten seconds later I impatiently sat up again. A quick glance at the clock told me it was ten-thirty at night. After all my work, I thought to myself gloomily, I still have to wait thirty minutes Lucy, you'll just have to be patient. I liked putting my presents for my big brother Ryan and my younger step-brothers, Jared and Daniel, under the tree after my parents finish putting out Santa's presents for my brothers and I. Established long ago as a rule, I never walked around the house at night until my dad and step-mom had been sleep for at least forty-five minutes because they could still be in light sleep and wake up. The clock seemed to be laughing at me. I glared at it, daring it to go any slower.

Finally, the clock reached the seeming unreachable time of eleven. Rolling out of my warm, cozy bed, I wrapped a robe around my pajamas and stuffed the presents into my pockets. I reached the stairwell and stopped. I thought I heard a door creaking open. Unopposed, I crept stealthily down my house's front stairwell. However, I was nervous. Around every piece of furniture, there seemed to be someone hiding. Behind me there seemed to be watching eyes. The shadows themselves were reaching out to snatch me away to whatever place they use to hide from the rising sun. After I reached the family room I let myself breath again. I couldn't help feeling a little safer in this room. The large windows all around the room offered a beautiful view of the lake and woods wrapping around it. The soft glow of our Christmas tree lights, and, of course, the invigorating scent of pine from our tree. This room, which offered protection from the dangers of the dark hallways and passages of my family's Colorado inn, was my stronghold against the world. Because there were so many other presents squeezed into the small corner the tree commanded, I had a hard time deciding where to put them. At last, I decided to put them on the piano. I looked around smugly. There was no way anyone could miss them. While I was celebrating my triumph, I heard a sudden thud. Without meaning to, I gave a little jump and dashed behind the piano. It was horribly embarrassing, but at fifteen, I was still terrified of the dark. I listened carefully, trying to pick out where the sound had come from. It sounded like someone was tying to sneak downstairs. I peeked around the piano, my curly blond hair falling out of its ponytail and into my blue eyes. The source of the sound entered the room.

Ryan?

My seventeen year old brother attempted to sneak into the room, which was near impossible as he was ' " and built like an NFL quarterback, and wound up almost knocking over a lamp. While watching him awkwardly put the lamp back on the table and giving it a little pat, I couldn't help but snicker. Turning towards the piano, Ryan quickly spotted me. He reddened. Nearly dropping a plastic bag he had been carrying, he tried to stuff it into his sweatshirt. Embarrassed, he tried to make up for his moment of clumsiness with a show of adulthood. " What are you doing down here, Lucy? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Although I was just two short years younger than him, Ryan acted like I was some frail little girl who needed constant assistance. Around nine, I had had to go to the emergency room because my lungs froze up, keeping me from breathing. My lungs had decided to kick back and take a vacation, leaving me to fend for myself. I was diagnosed with asthma shortly after. Because of this, Ryan was constantly worrying about me. Before this had happened, we often went on hikes in the woods, fishing, swimming in the lake, and all sorts of fun activities. But now. Now he never let me hang out with him and his friends when they did anything involving the outdoors like I had when I was younger. I wasn't allowed to run around outside or go swimming or do anything I loved. Ryan, for all his strength and toughness, had been really shaken by what happened to me. Even more than my parents or other brothers were.

" I was here before you, so you have to tell me what you're doing here first." Even though it was obvious he was putting presents under the tree as well. Defiantly, I stuck my chin in the air. Although I was putting on an air of resilience, I was about to collapse from exhaustion. Staying up late was obviously taking its toll on me. We glared at each other. About thirty seconds later he started laughing. A little piece of my brother's overprotection for me broke off. I just didn't notice. Annoyed by his mirth, I walked over and tried to punch him in the chest. He didn't budge. While I was hoping for him to start taking me seriously, he just found my frail attack even funnier. His laughter was contagious, so I couldn't help but start laughing as well. I started to cough, which caused all ' " of me to shake violently. Because of this, Ryan stopped laughing immediately and helped me with my inhaler, which he made me keep with me at all times. I pumped it a couple times and calmed down.

"-And this is why you shouldn't be up this late, Lucy."

I stopped and stared at him.

"-You should be resting."

Those words struck home.

" Ryan, I'm always resting! I'm not some little kid who needs to be told what to do and what not to do!" I paused, seeing shock at my outburst in Ryan's expression. " Can you please stop acting like another adult and just be my brother for once?" I was shocked at my outburst. Usually I was calm and collected, which meant I never yelled at anyone. Because of this, my older brother looked more worried then ever. Checking my forehead for a fever, he reached for my hand. " Come on, let's get you to bed, Lucy," he said as he tried to lead me toward the hall. "Its time for you to get back to bed. Its been a long day and-" Irritated, I exploded. Not literally of course, but in some sense I did. I was so tired of my brother treating me this way, like I couldn't take care of myself, that I just couldn't take it anymore. While he was pulling me towards the door, I jerked my arm away and defiantly walked into the kitchen for a snack. Around eleven-fifty, it was getting late. While I dug through the fridge, Ryan came in. He was looking extremely annoyed with me. More annoyed than I could ever remember. He slammed the fridge shut and grabbed my arm.

"You're going to bed now, Lucy," Ryan said through clenched teeth as he dragged me towards the stairs.

Suddenly, I heard a ticking sound.

"Wait."

Something in my voice stopped Ryan. He didn't stop me as I crept back towards the pile of presents. I stepped around the back and saw a tiny present there. I'm not sure why I did it, but I unwrapped it. Inside of a blue velvet jewelry box was a...pocket watch. Tick. Tick. Tick. I was disappointed, but I'm not sure why. I looked at the card.

 _Dear Lucy,_

 _Eric and I clean out Great-Aunt Miriam's attic and found this. I thought you might like it, so I asked Aunt Miriam if I could send it to you. I hope you like it. Come visit us sometime, we miss you and Ryan. Well, anyway, Merry Christmas And Happy New Year! Tell Uncle Freddie we said hello! Remember, things are never the way they seem._

 _With love,_

 _Carrie, Eric and Great-Aunt Miriam._

I looked dubiously at the pocket watch. It was rusty and had holes in it where inlaid jewels might have been once. I frowned at it. It didn't even work! It made a ticking sound, but it wasn't moving. "Stupid watch," I muttered under my breath. I marched by my brother, down the hall and up into my room. I could hear Ryan climb up the steps and pause at my door.

"Goodnight, Lucy. Merry Christmas," Ryan's voice was muffled by the door.

I chose to ignore him for the time being. I was still angry. I listened for when his door clicked shut down the hall. The house was gripped in silence. I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. I kept turning to look at the weird pocket watch. I had set it on the window sill. It was basking in the moonlight, filtering in from the window. I got up, something was written on the back. I picked it up and turned on my flashlight. It was gone. I rolled my eyes at myself and went back to bed. I looked at it from its place on the windowsill, and in the moonlight, I saw it again. I got up quietly and tiptoed over as if trying not to scare the words away, and looked. There were strange symbols written across the back of the watch. It was in some foreign language I had never heard of before, but somehow I could read them.

" _Come Durin's Day, when king shall fall, and spread the darkness from his hall. One shall rise up to the test, and complete a dragon's unrighteous quest_." I read it again. " Durin's Day, dragon quest, what is this a joke?" Frustrated, I threw the ugly thing against the wall. I crawled back into bed suddenly exhausted. I closed my eyes.

I heard a whirring sound, followed by a strong wind. I sat up, and saw everything in my room shaking around, books falling off my shelf, old artwork falling over, pictures crashing off the wall. I pinched myself to make sure it wasn't a dream, but I was wide awake. My bed started to twist around. I screamed and hid under my blankets, which sounded like a cowardly thing to do, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the moment.

"Lucy?!" Ryan must've heard me shriek because he ran into my room with his baseball bat. His jaw dropped as he ducked, avoiding my backpack.

"Ryan!" He ran over to me and held me tight, trying to protect me from... whatever this was.

Everything was spinning, round and round and round, and the wind was whistling louder and louder in my ears, when suddenly everything stopped. Everything froze, seemingly back to normal. I sat up in my bed. Something was very wrong, namely my bed was now in the middle of a grassy plain. Ryan and I sat up and looked around. I could see a village not far away. I assured myself it was alright, that it was just a dream. I got up, still wearing my snowmen pj pants and Washington Redskins t-shirt. I tripped on a root, and fell onto the dusty ground. I stood up, brushing dust off my clothes. I heard the thundering of horse hooves behind me. I turned to see twenty horsemen galloping up to me. Normally, I would've dove right back under my purple comforter and pray they don't see me, but I was grumpy and feeling fearless. Ryan put himself between the riders and I. I rolled my eyes but let him.

When they reached us, they stopped.

"Who the hell are you?" Ryan asked rudely.

"Ryan!" I gasped. Crud. were those _swords?_

"We're asking the questions here," one of them growled. Another man gave him a look and he shut up.

"Who are you, and what business have you here?" The one who spoke was obviously the leader. A tall man riding an elegant horse with a graceful stride. The way he rode announced him as in charge. The way the other riders looked to him also gave it away.

"I'm not sure. I'm lost, could you give us directions to the nearest police station please?" I asked politely. I gave the men sharp looks to show I wasn't here to fool around.

The leader looked puzzled. "I'm not sure what that is, miss. Do you need a ride to the city? We could help you two get there."

Ryan glanced around at the field again. "Um, where are we, exactly?"

The man straightened proudly.

"We are in Rohan, the most powerful kingdom in Middle-Earth!"

Oh, crap.


End file.
